Liam BrockeyHistory professor Liam Brockey of Michigan State University will present Thursday on “Dying for the Faith in Japan, 1597-1650.”

Cult of Christian martyrs in Japan subject of lecture

A free public presentation Thursday, March 9, will analyze the cult of martyrs during the early modern period, with special focus on the martyrs of Japan in the first half of the 17th century.

Liam Brockey, a history professor at Michigan State University, will discuss the resurgence of the cult within Western Christianity in the context of post-Reformation missionary work in his lecture, entitled “Books of Martyrs: Dying for the Faith in Japan, 1597-1650.”

Focusing on the brutal persecutions in Japan after 1597, he will examine the ways in which martyrs were commemorated in Europe and how they inspired contemporaries to travel to Japan for the purpose of obtaining martyrdom.

Brockey will also discuss the 2016 Martin Scorsese film Silence, for which he served as a historical consultant. The event will begin at 6 p.m. in room 100, Toldo Health Education Centre.